go

“And it came to pass after these things, that God did test Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.” Gen. 22:1. There is an immediate and ready response from Abraham, “Behold! Here, I am!” (hin-ne – a particle of interjection in Hebrew) Or an idiom, “Behold, Me!” or “Here I am!” The word here is in italics added for clarification by the translators. Anytime you have the word ‘Behold’ in your Bible you need to put an, RXR (for a railroad crossing sign in your Bible margin) When you come to a railroad crossing sign there are three words around it, ‘Stop, Look, Listen.’ So, when we come to this word in our Bibles we need to ‘Stop’ then we need to ‘Look’ all around and notice the context, then we need to ‘Listen’ to what the ‘Holy Spirit’ is trying to teach us, this is very important. Abraham says, “Behold, here I am!” three times in this chapter. Here in v.1 to God; in v.7 to Isaac; and in v.11 to the Angel of Jehovah.

Then God gives Abraham a command that would shake any saints foundation no matter how strong he or she was! “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” v.2 I don’t know about you but I can’t fathom that! Bible critics for ages have asked how God could demand a human sacrifice, like Jephthah’s daughter in Judges 11, but they miss the point, God did not let Abraham make a human sacrifice, nor did He intend to. Now Jephthah’s vow was rash and stupid. Listen, what God wanted was a living sacrifice not a dead one. Rom. 12:1-2. He wanted Abraham not Isaac, Isaac’s day was coming; Oh yes, the twins (Jacob & Esau) but this was Abraham’s day and Abraham’s test.

Listen, the real test, of real faith, is in its willingness and readiness to abandon all and devote all to God. ‘ALL!’ And that my friend is a ‘Principle for Prayer.’ Go and offer up thy god! (little g-o-d) son; daughter; car; boat; finances; butts; beer; wine; whatever! What is your little g-o-d? God wants you to take it up to Mt. Moriah and sacrifice it to Him as a whole burnt offering, all of it, today, right now! Security, home, retirement, job, hobby, or lack there of. Are you listening, are you paying attention, or just skim reading? The real test of real faith is in its willingness and readiness to abandon all and devote all to God! (BIG, G-O-D!) because without faith, real faith, true faith, genuine faith you are absolutely powerless (adunatos) to please GOD, so why even Pray?

God did not tell Abraham the reason for His command, neither does He always explain the reason behind the things He tells you and I to do. Amen? That’s why we need to keep singing that old hymn, “Trust and Obey.” Abraham’s response to God’s instructions is seen in Gen. 22:3-10. Notice v.3, Abraham didn’t hesitate or call a committee meeting or throw out a fleece three our four times, read his horoscope, or check his tarot cards. He woke up early, saddled his ass, took his son and went. Sometimes we deliberate too long, sometimes we just need to step out of the darn boat. It was his business to obey, it was God’s business to work out the details. Amen? And it is no different in your life and mine today! v.4 They arrive on the third day, interesting, Christ arose on the third day, never after the third day, always on the third day! (check it out) The parallels between this event and Jesus going to Calvary are amazing, to similar to be coincidental.

I love v.5, Abraham says to his young men, “Abide here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you.” (Prayer – Worship – Sacrifice) Watch this, “and come again to you” in Hebrew “and we will come back to you.” If he is going to kill Isaac, how is he coming back with him? Abraham believed God would resurrect Isaac from the dead. Heb. 11:17-19, “Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which also he received him in a figure.” This was a profound expression of Abraham’s faith, Abraham believed God! (PERIOD!) YES LORD! That’s Faith! If you are saved there are two words you can never say in the same sentence, “No LORD!” Because if He is in fact your LORD, your can never tell Him, No! NEVER! By the way, look at v.19, “So Abraham returned unto his young men and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba;” You don’t see it in the English but in the Hebrew, Isaac is not with Abraham. Abraham says, “Let’s you and I return to Beer-sheba;” and they did. The ancient Rabbi’s claim five verses later Sarah saw Abraham and the two servants returning from Mt. Moriah without Isaac the son of her old age and had a heart attack and died at the age of 127. (speculation) Isaac stays on Mt. Moriah with the Angel of Jehovah and you don’t see him again until he takes a wife, Rebekah in Gen. 24:63.

In Gen. 22:6 Abraham takes the fire and the knife and lays the wood for the sacrifice on his son Isaac’s shoulder’s and they begin their ascent up Mt. Moriah. You can almost feel Abraham’s heart pounding in his chest and then in v.7 his son asks the inevitable question, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb (sey- small sheep or goat) for a burnt offering?” I don’t think Abraham told him, do you? Would you if the tables were turned? So this is a complete surprise to Isaac, and v.8 is probably one the most prophetic verses in the Bible if not the most prophetic, “And Abraham said, ‘My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering; so they went both of them together.”   “Between The Lines”

“Father as we come into Your presence and lay our all on the altar of sacrifice, we beseech you in the name of Your blessed Son Yeshua to lean down Your ear and hear. We are unworthy to enter your throne room, but come through the blood of Calvary. We know that without faith we are absolutely powerless to please You, so we pray with your disciples, ‘Lord, give more to us faith, increase our faith, strengthen our faith, build our faith.’ In Jesus name and for His sake. Amen!

“Portraits of Prayer in Genesis”  Mt. Moriah – Part – # 3